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Thursday, April 26, 2018

Thursday, April 26, 2018 - Lunch Program

Media Trends: The Profitless and the Non-Profits

David Lesher

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. So said Thomas Jefferson. So if journalism is essential to democracy and quality journalism is no longer profitable—newspaper ad revenue today is a quarter its value in 2000—how do we preserve a healthy democracy? David Lesher, co-founder, editor, and CEO of CALmatters, will discuss the rapidly changing media and the emerging case for non-profits like CALmatters which are filling gaps in essential coverage.

David Lesher is co-founder, editor, and CEO of CALmatters, a non-profit media organization launched in 2015 to cover state policy and politics. Today, CALmatters has the largest news staff in Sacramento and its work is shared with more than 100 media, including all of the state’s major newspapers and radio stations.

Lesher has worked with top state leaders and major California issues for more than 35 years as a journalist and policy analyst. He was in the newspaper business for more than 25 years, largely at the Los Angeles Times where he was a political writer, state Capitol reporter and assistant national editor for the White House campaign. He also served as editor of California Journal magazine, California director for the DC-based New America Foundation, and government affairs director for the Public Policy Institute of California.

Mr. Lesher's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Rose Institute for State and Government at CMC.